Mixed Media

"Spectacle Spectacular" at the Handwerker Gallery

Dawn Hunter

— whose “Spectacle Spectacular: Cautionary Tales and Other Stories” is on display at Ithaca College’s Handwerker Gallery — will give an artist’s talk in the gallery on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Free and open to the public, the event will begin at 4:30 p.m.

 

Featuring Hunter’s drawings and paintings, “Spectacle Spectacular” explores the relationship between popular culture and gendered identity.

“I’ve conducted extensive research on fashion photography in the latter part of the 20th century,” Hunter said. “I’ve been particularly struck by the persistence of one particular seductive promise: that by recognizing their bodies as malleable objects that are always capable of improvement, women can attain greater status and power, and lead richer, more exciting lives. . . . My goal is to make the myth-building work of popular culture and its various paradoxes and contradictions more visible.”

“Spectacle Spectacular” will remain on display until October 11. For more information, contact Cheryl Kramer, gallery director and assistant professor of art history, at (607) 274-3548 or ckramer@ithaca.edu.

'Born in the Bronx' conference celebrates the early days of hip hop

    Afrika Bambaataa and other pioneers of hip hop will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to speak at a two-day conference celebrating Cornell University Library’s acquisition of “Born in the Bronx: The Legacy and Evolution of Hip Hop,” a collection that documents the early days of hip hop with recordings, photographs, posters and more.

Events on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 will include music, performances and lectures by several of hip hop’s founders, and roundtable discussions led by prominent speakers from the hip hop and academic communities. Cornell University Library will host the event, which will highlight the one-of-a-kind historical materials.

“By paying tribute to those who laid the foundation, we tell our own history,” Bambaataa said. “Preserving hip hop’s early years will help future generations understand the places they come from.”

Bambaataa will address the symposium on Friday, Oct. 31 as part of a roundtable discussion featuring other hip hop pioneers such as Grandmaster Caz, Grandwizzard Theodore, Popmaster Fable, Tony Tone, Disco Wiz and Kool Lady Blue. Select artists will also perform in Alice Statler Hall that evening.

Noted hip hop historians will speak at the event, including authors Jeff Chang and Mark Anthony Neal, associate professor of black popular culture at Duke University. Hip hop photographer Joe Conzo will present his historic images of the Bronx during the conference. The event is free and open to the public.

"We want the community at large to celebrate hip hop's contributions to American culture through a better understanding of its origins, which are the focus of this unique collection,” said Katherine Reagan, curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts at Cornell University Library.

Johan Kugelberg, a collector, curator and writer in the field of popular culture, donated the materials to the Library. Kugelberg’s book, “Born in the Bronx,” chronicles the evolution of hip hop in the South Bronx, beginning in the early 1970s. The 2,000-piece collection includes the archive of Bronx photographer Joe Conzo, vinyl records and other recordings, handmade party and club fliers, and custom-painted textiles by artist Buddy Esquire.

(Image: Tony Tone, Afrika Bambaataa, and the chief rocker Busy Bee at the Zulu Nation Anniversary, Bronx River Projects, 1981. Photograph by Joe Conzo.)

Concert Spotlight: Hotel Cafe in Ithaca

Ever since the sweet sincerity of artists like Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver and Dan Fogelberg, singer-songwriters have been vying with elevator Muzak for the distinction of least hip in the world of music.

But at the Hotel Cafe in downtown Hollywood, singer-songwriters rule the roost. And after eight years of hard work, the small club is turning the tide of hip.

Performers have to elbow their way through the Hotel Cafe crowd to climb onto the tiny stage jammed into a nook by the front window. But since the venue opened in 2000, capacity has grown from 49 to 165.

"It was beg, borrow and steal from day one, 'cause you know initially we had no booze at all, not even beer and wine, just a coffee shop," says club co-owner Max Mamikunian. "We used to charge $5 for a bucket of ice and people could bring in their own beer. And every dime we made went back into the club in some way."

Today, the small club has sent its artists out on an international tour playing much larger venues. And on a recent night, it celebrated the first release on its fledgling record label — a CD by long-time regular performer Jim Bianco. According to Mamikunian, the club's coterie of singer-songwriters has helped put the Hotel Cafe on the map, and the success of the club has, in turn, helped launch the artists' careers.

The Hotel Cafe 2008 Tour will stop at the State Theatre in Ithaca on March 26th. Tickets for these shows are selling out all across the country so if you want to catch the Ithaca performance, get your tickets soon.

Listen as NPR's Christian Bordal visits the club where singer-songwriters still draw a crowd.

82 and Still Painting

"We're living in a total illusion here on earth for better or worse, but whatever is beyond, that's where I'm looking... to the reality behind it all," says George Rhoads (pictured, right). He's talking about his landscape oil & acrylic paintings, his "chosen profession" as he puts it. But isn't he most famous for his huge moving sculptures, which appear at the Corning Museum of Glass, the ScienCenter in Ithaca, the Port Authority in NYC, and around the world? "In the 60's is when I started making the sculptures, and that provided me with kind of a living from then on, so I was able to paint quite a bit." Those paintings hang in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in the collections of Leonard Bernstein, and Lawrence Tish, among others. "Commercially, that hasn't done me a lot of good," says Rhoads. But painting is his first love. His rare solo exhibit, Landscapes of the Fingerlakes, is at Ithaca's Community School of Music and Arts through March 28.

Rhoads moved to the Ithaca area in 1970, in part because he was tired of living in New York. "I paint what's around me, and I was tired of painting the city," he says. Now his adopted home has named the month of March in his honor. In proclaiming March to be "George Rhoads Month," Ithaca mayor Carolyn Peterson cited, among other things, Rhoads' "international reputation as a painter, sculptor, and designer of kinetic art as well as being one of the first North American origami masters, and a yoga teacher." Rhoads says of the proclamation "it's rather gratifying, but strange... It's fun. I feel that I really belong here in Ithaca."

A few years back, the late Fred Rogers brought a crew to Ithaca to film an episode visiting George Rhoads' studio and looking at his fanciful rolling-ball sculptures. "That was a great day when he and his crew came to do the show, really unforgettable" says Rhoads. "Mr. Rogers was exactly as he seems on TV, a marvelous character."

The area landscapes in Rhoads' rare solo exhibition were all completed within the last three years, some of which had languished for years before being completed for this exhibit. (Pictured, left: Lake Afternoon, up for a raffle to benefit CSMA.)

He'll give an artist's talk Sunday, March 9 at 2pm at the CSMA gallery. He says he'll ask those attending what they want to know about... his career in general or the specific creation of the landscapes on display.

The exhibit's "gala opening" 5-8pm tonight (3/7) is timed to coincide with Gallery Night of Ithaca. Landscapes of the Finger Lakes runs  through March 28 at the Community School of Music and Arts, 330 E. State Street, Ithaca. Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10am - 8pm.

LISTEN AGAIN: Hear my interview with George Rhoads online.

Read an article by Peggy Haines about George Rhoads in Life in the Finger Lakes magazine.

Visit George Rhoads' website.

--Gregory Keeler
gkeeler@wskg.org

 

Concert Spotlight: The Tallis Scholars perform at Ithaca College

On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Tallis Scholars — an ensemble of vocalists specializing music of the Renaissance — will perform the second of three performances in the Ithaca College Concerts year-long season “Legends.” The concert will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

The 2007–2008 season has been named “Legends” because it offers concerts by world renowned performers who have established themselves as popular and enduring figures. The season will conclude in April with the 30-year reunion tour of Tashi, the renowned chamber music ensemble.

Entitled “Music of Spain and Portugal,” the Tallis Scholars performance features the “Requiem” for six voices by Tomás Luis de Victoria. Music in Latin by several other Spanish and Portuguese composers rounds out the program.

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by Peter Phillips, their tireless and inspirational Oxford-educated director. Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity of sound that he feels best serves the Renaissance repertoire, thus allowing every detail of the musical lines to be heard.

The ensemble has established itself as a leading exponent of Renaissance sacred music through its approximately 70 concerts a year and over 50 award-winning recordings on the Gimmel label. They are among the busiest ensembles in the world, with regular tours throughout Europe, North and South America, and the Far East.

Individual tickets are on sale at the Clinton House Ticket Center and at Ithacaevents.com.
For more information on Ithaca College Concerts, call (607) 274-3717.

On Stage: Bed No Breakfast at the Kitchen Theatre

Warm up and get out of the snow this January/February with a host of quirky characters who are also escaping the cold. In BED NO BREAKFAST, six people are waylaid by a blizzard in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and seek shelter at the UP B&B - a bed and breakfast probably not found on the list of "best cozy and quaint" places to stay. The owner would prefer no guests at all and was certainly not expecting so many this particular night. And what a group it is! Compounding the lack of camaraderie of the group is the lack of comforts of the inn. How long can strangers wait out a storm outside before a storm erupts inside?

BED NO BREAKFAST is the fourth musical by the creative team of Rachel Lampert (book & lyrics) and Larry Pressgrove (music). Their previous musicals are TONY AND THE SOPRANO, COMFORT FOOD, and The Angle of the Sun (chosen for inclusion in the 2007 New York Musical Theater Festival and had performances in September 2007 at the Sage Theater in New York City.) In BED NO BREAKFAST, Lampert and Pressgrove do something new again: they have written a musical that revels in full ensemble scenes and songs, with a cast of seven.

The cast brings together many Kitchen favorite actor/singers, including Erica Steinhagen, Norma Fire and Jessica Flood . Dan Kiely, seen last season in AFTER ASHLEY, makes his KTC musical debut. They are joined by Brett Bossard and Jessica Carr, who have appeared in original musicals on the Family Fare series, and newcomer Tony Simione. Richard Montgomery is the music director.

Norma Fire is Mrs. L, the quirky owner of the B&B and her guests Chance (Erica Steinhagen), Jake (Dan Kiely), Marla (Jessica Flood), Will (Brett Bossard), Henry (Tony Simione) and Greta (Jessica Carr) struggle through their three-day confinement with no conveniences and lots of parlor games.The Kitchen Theatre is transformed into a rustic B&B by scenic designer Steve TenEyck. Hannah Kochman designed the costumes. Stage management is by resident stage manager Stephen Wagner.

Click here to listen to an interview with The Kitchen Theatre's Rachel Lampert.

BED NO BREAKFAST will run through February 16th at the Kitchen Theatre, 116 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca. For tickets or more information, call 607-272-0403. 

Concert Spotlight: Violinist Rachel Barton Pine at Ithaca College

Violin virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine will give this year’s Louis K. Thaler Concert Violinist Series performance at Ithaca College on Saturday, Feb. 2. The free concert will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. With pianist Matthew Hagle, Pine will perform two works honoring Black History Month: Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata, which was written for an Afro-English violinist, and a set of spirituals form the first half of the program. Pine will also perform Richard Strauss’s Violin sonata and the Sarasate “Carmen” Fantasy. In addition to her public performance,
Pine will give a master class on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall. The series was established in 2002 to honor Louis Thaler’s lifelong love of the violin.

American violinist Rachel Barton Pine has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Iceland Symphonies. Acclaimed collaborations include Daniel Barenboim,
Christoph Eschenbach, William Warfield, Christopher O’Riley and Mark O’Connor.

Her festival appearances include Ravinia, Marlboro, and Salzburg. She has been featured on “St. Paul Sunday,” “Performance Today,” “From the Top,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” and NBC’s “Today.” She holds top prizes from the J.S. Bach (gold medal), Queen Elisabeth, Paganini, Kreisler, Szigeti, and Montreal international competitions, and has twice been honored as a Chicagoan of the Year. Her charitable activities include serving as a trustee of the Music Institute of Chicago and president of the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.

Pianist Matthew Hagle lives and works in the Chicago area, having performed at the Ravinia Festival’s Martin Theater, Symphony Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, and live from radio station WFMT, among other venues. He has performed in England, Australia, and Japan, as well as throughout the United States.

 

Light In Winter festival will use the arts, music and science to highlight "Identity"

The arts and sciences join together in Ithaca this weekend (January 18-20) as science and art intersect to explore the many facets of "Identity". Superheroes and superstars will intermingle with robots and poets, all examining the questions of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. The festival will be held in Ithaca, New York and events will occur at a number of locations throughout town. Tickets are available at www.lightinwinter.com.

University of Chicago biologist Michael LaBarbera, University of Minnesota condensed matter experimentalist Jim Kakalios and noted comic book writer Roger Stern will hold an illustrated panel discussion focusing on the "whys" and "hows" of superheroes. Why can Superman fly, when we cannot? How fast can The Flash really run? With tongue firmly in cheek, these three experts will turn the scientific method on these questions and examine these imagined identities as no one ever has. (1/19/08, 1:30 PM, Statler Hotel, Cornell)

Hugh Masekela is a true music legend, a rare world music and jazz crossover success who has had several pop hits, including "Grazin' in the Grass" and "Bring Him Back Home", an homage to Nelson Mandela which became the anthem of the anti-apartheid movement. In concert, Hugh Masekela takes the musical route in exploring identity, using his trumpet and his band of Chissa All-Stars to find the places where jazz and world music meet, where flugelhorns and drums are the weapons of love, and where hatred can be eradicated with a single sweet note. (1/19/08, 8:00 PM, Bailey Hall, Cornell)

Neal Conan, host of NPR's "Talk of the Nation", is a leading expert on the cultural identity of Americans and how we, a nation of immigrants and explorers, came to be. His fascination of exploration led him to create a program entitled "First Person - Stories from the Edge of the World". With a multimedia presentation which includes the music of the world-renowned Ensemble Galilei, Neal Conan will read first-person accounts of travelers and explorers . These journeys changed the world, and shaped who we became. (1/18/08, 7:30 PM, State Theatre, Downtown Ithaca)

What do Robots Dream of? We create them and give them identities - simple or complex - but will they ever become independent beings or are they simply extensions of ourselves? Cornell engineer Hod Lipson is on the cutting edge of robot research and believes that thinking robots are not too far off. Ithaca College professor of philosophy Lee Bailey has written books on the potential moral dilemmas of creating these beings who are not us. With a performance by the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots - real robots who perform real music - this program promises both hilarity and poignancy, and will perhaps illuminate where we are going. (1/19/08, 3:30 PM, Statler Hotel, Cornell)

Composer and public radio personality Bruce Adolphe explores the artist's identity and how it intersects with music in his multimedia presentation "Red Dogs and Pink Skies", a celebration of the work of Paul Gauguin. Performed by a fantastic lineup of Ithaca College School of Music faculty musicians, pieces of music that were inspired by the colorful tropical works of Gauguin will be highlighted and narrated by Adolphe himself, with stories of Gauguin's life and how he finally found his artistic voice in the South Pacific. (1/20/08, 1:00 PM, Ford Hall, Ithaca College)

Additional presentations will include a musical dim sum - the Ying Quartet performs a selection of pieces by Chinese-American composers, an exploration of digital identities with Cornell communication professor Jeffrey Hancock, the polyethnic percussion and performance ensemble Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey, a traveling exhibit titled "THEM" from the Jim Crow Museum which explores images of hatred and separation, a performance and presentation Composer Michael Gandolfi and the Ithaca
College Symphony Orchestra which will examine how, by shaping nature, we shape ourselves, poetry workshops with Tompkins County Poet Laureate Paul Hamill, and additional art, science, sociology, and music workshops throughout Ithaca.

Behind the Art – Christopher Julian

Name:  Christopher Julian

Training/School: Binghamton University & Tompkins Cortland Community College

Community Involvement: Video Editing & Cinematography

Describe your ‘art’: I write, direct, produce, shoot and edit films and videos of a variety of different kinds including documentaries, narratives, promotional and commercial videos.

Who or what inspires your work? I was hooked on film ever since Star Wars at age 5. Since then it has been a very wide variety of filmmakers’ works that continue to reinvigorate my passion for the medium.

What is your proudest accomplishment so far? “Invisible Ink,” a two-hour narrative that took my co-writer and I over three years to finish. And “101 Ways to Retire—or Not!” a one-hour documentary about active retirement.

Who are your favorite local artists? The local music band “IY” has some of the best songwriting and musicianship around. The fab four of Ithaca!

Advice to aspiring artists: Do what feels right. Worry about money later...

Who are you listening to and/or reading right now? The music I’m listening to lately usually features dead artists J Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley. But among the living, I love Iron & Wine, Radiohead, and the Shins.

What is important to you?  Art of all kinds are the things that are most important to me. Filmmaking, music, photography, mostly.

Christopher Julian's documentary "101 Ways to Retire - Or Not!" will be broadcast on WSKG-TV on Thursday, January 17th at 8 p.m.

'Behind the Art' is a regular series that profiles the people behind the arts throughout our community. If you'd like to be profiled in 'Behind the Art,' email editor Crystal Sarakas.

AIDS Memorial Quilt on display in Ithaca

Panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed in the Emerson Suites at Ithaca College November 26–28. Viewing times will be from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The display will conclude on Wednesday with a panel discussion, “Faces of AIDS,” and the ceremonial closing of the quilt. Sponsored by the Ithaca College Action for AIDS group, the events are free and open to the public.

A poignant memorial and powerful tool for education as well as a work of art, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was started in San Francisco in 1987 by the NAMES Project Foundation to increase public awareness of AIDS and provide a creative means for healing. Each of the quilt’s panels was sewn and decorated by friends and loved ones in commemoration of a person whose life was lost to AIDS. The quilt has been visited by over 15 million people in displays worldwide. It currently has more than 46,000 panels and 91,000 names, including those of actor Rock Hudson, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, clothing designer Tina Chow, singer Freddie Mercury and NASCAR driver Tim Richmond.

In addition to the public viewing, classes and other groups can schedule a facilitated viewing of the quilt by trained volunteers. To make arrangements, contact Russell Martin, assistant director of the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement, at 607-274-3222 or rjmartin@ithaca.edu.